Chelsea and Arsenal both have the chance to depose Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premier League - at least for a few hours.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men go to Bolton Wanderers in the final fixture of the day giving their rivals the chance to steal a march.
Arsenal travel to Birmingham City while Chelsea host Aston Villa in a dress rehearsal for their forthcoming FA Cup semi-final.
By a curious quirk of fate, the other semi-final opponents also meet as Portsmouth visit Tottenham Hotspur.
New Hull City manager Iain Dowie faces a tough first home match aginst a strong Fulham side.
Stoke City go to a West Ham United side in need of three points following their home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers who now host Everton.
Birmingham v Arsenal
Arsenal are top of the current form table having won six successive matches.
Birmingham have lost their last two but both defeats came away from St Andrew’s where they have not lost in 11 outings since the 2-1 defeat by Bolton at the end of September.
If they remain undefeated again, it will see them chalk up their best home record since 1974. However the Blues have won just one of their 11 Premier League meetings with the Gunners.
Chelsea v Aston Villa
These sides meet again at Wembley in a fortnight but they both need points from this fixture to ensure that the FA Cup is not all they have left to play for.
After going out of the Champions League, Chelsea dropped points at Blackburn Rovers before bouncing back with a crushing 5-0 win at Portsmouth.
Villa are the only team unbeaten in the Barclays Premier League in 2010 but have drawn seven of their 10 fixtures.
Hull City v Fulham
Iain Dowie’s first home match as Hull City manager sees them up against a Fulham side who have not won away from home in 14 attempts since the opening day of the season.
The Cottagers have not scored on the road in seven and a half hours of action since Clint Dempsey’s wonder strike at Stoke on 5th January.
The Tigers have lost their last five matches and have won only one of 16 outings.
Spurs v Portsmouth
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp will aim to increase the plight of his old club – but he is not the only link. Spurs have four former Pompey players in Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar and Younes Kaboul while the south coast club have ex-Spurs Kevin-Prince Boateng, Ricardo Rocha and Michael Brown in their squad. Midfielder Jamie O’Hara is ineligible to face his parent club.
Pompey have won only one of their last 10 meetings with Spurs and are 14 points adrift of safety. Defeat here could see them relegated as early as next weekend if results go against them.
Spurs have won four in a row while Portsmouth have not kept a clean sheet in 13 matches since December’s 2-0 win over Liverpool.
West Ham v Stoke
The Hammers are under pressure following their midweek home defeat by Wolves. It was their fifth consecutive reverse, although three of those have come against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Stoke are unbeaten in their last four away from home but have only scored twice in their last five visits to the Boleyn Ground.
West Ham have not come from behind to win a match since December 2008 when they beat Stoke 2-1.
Wolves v Everton
Both sides pulled off impressive away victories in midweek so confidence will be high for this fixture. Wolves’ win at West Ham has given their survival hopes a timely boost while Everton enhanced their hopes of qualifying for Europe by beating Manchester City 2-0 at Eastlands.
Everton are unbeaten in four league matches and have won eight of their last 11 but they have not won at Molineux since January 1982, losing both visits since then.
Wolves are unbeaten in three but have lost their last two at home without scoring.
Bolton v Man Utd
Manchester United have won nine of their last 10 meetings with Bolton and have lost only once in 10 Premier League visits to the Reebok.
Wayne Rooney has scored six goals in his last four matches against the Trotters who have now kept four successive clean sheets on their own turf.
Three wins from their last five, have lifted Owen Coyle’s men clear of the drop zone.
Barclays Premier League fixtures
Click on a fixture below to view the match preview
Birmingham City v Arsenal (Referee: Howard Webb)
Chelsea v Aston Villa (Peter Walton)
Hull City v Fulham (Chris Foy)
Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth (Kevin Friend)
West Ham United v Stoke City (Andre Marriner)
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton (Michael Jones)
Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United (Martin Atkinson)
” Chelsea host Aston Villa in a dress rehearsal for their forthcoming FA Cup semi-final” .
Credits: PremierLeague.com
Comments on this entry are closed.